“You mom and I could never figure out how to change it.”
“Did I hear Danny?” my mom called as she came inside and hugged my brother. “How was your flight?”
“No complaints,” Danny said, ducking out of the way as she tried to fix his hair.
“Hello,” my mom said, looking at Brooke, a question in her voice. She glanced at Danny. “I thought you promised you weren’t going to bring your assistant with you again.”
“That’s Brooke,” Linnie, J.J., and I all said together.
“Danny’s girlfriend,” Linnie said.
“We’ve totally heard about her!” J.J. added.
“She does not,” my dad jumped in, “sell cookies on the Internet.”
“Danny’s mentioned her,” Linnie said.
“Oh, yes, of course,” my mother said after a small pause. She exchanged a glance with my dad, who gave an exaggerated I have no idea shrug. It made me glad that my parents weren’t responsible for keeping state secrets, since they weren’t very good at subterfuge. “Welcome,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite mask her confusion.
“I brought this for you,” Brooke said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a cellophane-wrapped basket of soaps. She held it out to my mom. “To thank you for your hospitality.”
“My . . . hospitality?”
“I was thinking we’d stay in the Blue Room,” Danny said as he crossed back to where Brooke was still standing in the doorway and picked up his rollerboard.
“Brooke is coming to the wedding,” Linnie said, meeting my mother’s eye, even as her tone remained upbeat. “Isn’t that great?”
“I thought that you knew,” Brooke said, her face flushing a dull red as she glanced at Danny, “I thought . . .”
“It’s all good, right?” Danny asked. “We have rooms to spare here.”
“Well, not this weekend,” Rodney said. “My aunt Liz is already in the Blue Room. And my parents are going to be in the Ship Room. . . .”
“We had you in your old bedroom,” my mother said. “But that was when it was just you, staying with J.J. We didn’t realize . . .” She stopped herself and glanced down at the basket of soaps.
“Well, then, we can just stay in Mike’s room,” Danny said. “Since Mike’s staying at Jesse’s. Right?”
“Bridesmaids are in there,” I said, shooting him a grimace.
“What, the three of them?” Danny asked, his eyebrows flying up, and Linnie nodded. “So we no longer care about the house burning down?”
“They’ve promised to behave,” Linnie said.
“What about Dad’s study? J.J. could stay in there, we could take my room—”
“Max is in there,” Linnie said.
“Max is staying here?”
“He’s the best man, and he’s officiating the ceremony,” Linnie said, starting to sound annoyed. “We thought the least we could do was offer him a place to stay.”
“And who’s in the Ship Room again?”
“My parents,” Rodney reminded him.
“And your aunt can’t stay at the Inn?”
“No,” Rodney practically yelled, and we all looked over at him. “Uh,” he said more quietly. “There’s . . . kind of a family feud happening with my aunt Liz and my uncle Jimmy. They can’t really be around each other. So it’s best if they’re not in the same hotel.”
“What’s the feud about?” J.J. asked.
“Well, this is just great,” Danny said, dropping his suitcase with a loud sigh. I could tell he was getting frustrated—which was the last thing I wanted. We were all supposed to be having fun this weekend, after all.
“You can stay in my room,” I volunteered.
“Charlie,” my mom said, shaking her head. “You shouldn’t have to give up your room.”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “Really. I can stay in J.J. and Danny’s room.”
“Great,” Danny said, smiling at me, looking instantly more relaxed. “You’re the best, Chuck.”
“Well—okay,” my mother said, nodding, sounding like she was trying to regroup. “If you’re sure.”
I nodded, and Danny mouthed Thank you to me. You owe me, I mouthed back to him, and he laughed. “I’ll just get my room ready.”
“I’ll help,” Danny said, following me to the kitchen stairs.
“Race you up?” I asked.
Danny shook his head. “No,” he said. “We’re not—”
But I took off running, and sure enough, a few seconds later, he was racing up the stairs next to me.
* * *
“So,” I said as I shook out the fitted sheet and looked over at him. “I . . . didn’t realize you were bringing anyone to the wedding.”
“Yeah,” Danny said, and he gave me the tiniest of eye rolls as I tossed his half to him and we pulled it over my mattress together.
I arched an eyebrow. “Stage-five clinger?”
He laughed, and then cleared his throat, like he was fighting to be more serious. “No. Brooke’s great. She’s super great.” We tucked in the sheet, then the top sheet, and pulled the comforter over them, then tossed the pillows onto the bed. I straightened them out and gave them a quick fluff and decided that was probably as good as it was going to get.
“Good enough?” I asked, and Danny nodded.
“Good enough.” He wandered over to my desk and sat down in my wheelie chair, spinning himself around once. “But I’m sorry for springing her on you. We’re still going to hang out this weekend, just you and me. Right?”
I grinned. “Right.”
“Knock-knock!” I turned and saw that Brooke was standing in the doorway, not actually knocking. “I came to see what I can do to be of assistance.”
“I think we’re all set here,” Danny said, giving her a smile. “You should just relax.”
“I’m happy to help out.”
“We’re good,” I said. I got so little time with my older brother, I didn’t necessarily need Brooke intruding on it—and in my own room, no less.
I heard a buzzing sound, and Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I should get this,” he said, pushing himself up to standing, already heading toward the doorway. “Be right back.” He crossed the landing, and I could hear his voice getting fainter as he went downstairs. “Yeah, I’m here. Walk me through what’s happening.”
With Danny gone, it was just me and this girl, who I didn’t know at all, looking at each other across my room. The silence between us seemed to expand and stretch out, and I was suddenly aware, in a way that I hadn’t been just a few seconds earlier, that my room probably looked stupid and childish to her—the posters on my walls, the photos of me and Siobhan pinned up on my corkboard, the jewelry in a heap on my dresser.
“So!” Brooke said brightly, giving me a smile. “What can I do?”
“I really think we’re all set. I just need to grab a few things.” My dresses for the wedding and the rehearsal dinner were hanging in my closet, but I could get to it from Linnie’s room. I just needed a few odds and ends to get through the weekend—I wasn’t sure how much access I’d have to my room once Danny and Brooke settled in. I pulled a canvas bag off my doorknob and crossed over to my dresser.
“I’m happy to help if I can.”
“There’s nothing to help with,” I said, then wondered if I’d been too sharp. “Really. This is a one-person job.” I grabbed a clean pair of pajamas from my drawer and tossed in some underwear and a few T-shirts.
“I’m really sorry to put you out of your room,” Brooke said, twisting her hands together. Her nails, I could see, were long and perfectly painted a dark shade of pink.
“It’s fine.”
“I guess I just thought—I mean, I had no idea that you wouldn’t . . .” Her voice trailed off. I knew I should probably say something—lie, like Linnie and J.J. had done, pretending we’d known who she was and that she had been coming. And she clearly wanted me to tell her that I didn’t mind at all being displaced out of my own room. But I wasn’t about to do any of that.